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Blinken: Russia must immediately free 2 detained Americans

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:09:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his Russian counterpart, in a rare phone call between the diplomats since the Ukraine war, to immediately release a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained last week as well as another imprisoned American, Paul Whelan, the State Department said Sunday.In the call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Blinken conveyed “grave concern” over the Kremlin’s detention of journalist Evan Gershkovich on espionage allegations, according to a State Department summary of the call. Blinken called for his immediate release.Blinken also sought the immediate release of Whelan, whom the statement said was wrongfully detained.Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have said are baseless. He is serving a 16-year sentence.Blinken and Lavrov also discussed “the importance of creating an environment that permi...

U.S. citizen gets 20 years for joining Islamic State group

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:09:59 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — A U.S. citizen who moved his family to Syria to join the Islamic State terrorist group has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.Emraan Ali, 55, a U.S. citizen born in Trinidad and Tobago, was sentenced Tuesday in Miami federal court, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.According to court records, Ali moved his family from Trinidad and Tobago to Brazil, and then to Turkey and eventually Syria in March 2015. He falsely told his children that they were going on vacation but actually intended to join IS, prosecutors said.After arriving in Syria, IS registered Ali and his family, and Ali underwent IS religious and military training with other English speakers, officials said. The training included instruction on the operation of various automatic weapons such as the AK-47 assault rifle and PKC machine gun.Ali was eventually discharged from combat duty and worked in res...

Trump to deliver remarks Tuesday night after his arraignment

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:09:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will deliver remarks Tuesday night in Florida after his scheduled arraignment in New York on charges related to hush money payments, his campaign announced Sunday.Trump is set to deliver remarks at his Mar-a-Lago club after returning from Manhattan, where he is expected to voluntarily turn himself in.Trump, a 2024 presidential candidate, is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury last week, two people familiar with the matter have told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that is not yet public.Trump’s indictment came after a grand jury probe into hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to squelch allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter. The indictment itself has remained sealed, as is standard in New York before an arraignment.In television interviews Sunday, Tr...

Hutchinson launches GOP 2024 bid, calls on Trump to drop out

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:09:59 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Asa Hutchinson, who spent two terms as governor of Arkansas, will seek the Republican presidential nomination, positioning himself as an alternative to Donald Trump just days after the former president was indicted by a grand jury in New York.In an interview that aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Hutchinson said Trump should drop out of the race, arguing “the office is more important than any individual person.”“I’m running because I believe that I am the right time for America, the right candidate for our country and its future,” he said. “I’m convinced that people want leaders that appeal to the best of America and not simply appeal to our worst instincts.”Hutchinson is the first Republican to announce a campaign after Trump became the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges. His candidacy will test the GOP’s appetite for those who speak out against Trump. Others who have criticized Trump, including former Maryland Gov...

Algerian court sentences prominent journalist to 5 years

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:09:59 GMT

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — A court in Algiers on Sunday sentenced a prominent journalist in the North African country to five years in prison with two years suspended and ordered his website and a radio station shut down based on the accusation that they threaten state security. Ihsane El-Kadi was detained Dec. 23 at his home in the capital, Algiers. He was accused of receiving foreign funding for his outlets. He has remained in custody since his arrest and appeared in court on Sunday for the verdict, along with a collective of lawyers, defending him, journalists and family members. The court also ordered El-Kandi to pay a fine of 700,000 Algerian dinars ($5,200). The media company which owns El-Kadi’s website and radio station was ordered dissolved, its assets seized, and a fine of one million Algerian dinars ($7,390) was slapped on its owners.El-Kadi, who was active in Algeria’s Hirak pro-democracy protest movement in 2019, appears to be the latest target of an encroaching crackdown ...

Man gets new trial in Chicago honor student’s death

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:09:59 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A state appeals court has ordered a new trial for the man accused of gunning down a Chicago honor student days after she had performed at Barack Obama’s 2013 presidential inauguration.Micheail Ward was found guilty in connection with the death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton and sentenced to 84 years in prison in 2019. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday that the 1st District Appellate Court ruled that detectives improperly extracted a confession from Ward after he invoked his right to remain silent at least three times during a 12-hour interrogation. Ward was 18 years old at the time of the shooting. One of the detectives who questioned him, John Halloran, has secured confessions from suspects in at least six cases who were later cleared by DNA or other evidence, the Sun-Times reported.The three-judge appellate court said that Ward’s statements were inadmissible and the trial judge should have suppressed them. It was unclear whether prosecutors would r...

2 charged with cutting wires; 40,000 lose internet service

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:09:59 GMT

NORWALK, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut police have charged two people with cutting more than 2,000 fiber optic cables, leaving over 40,000 homes and businesses without internet service in the southwestern part of the state.Norwalk police said they arrested Asheville, North Carolina, residents Jillian Persons and Austin Geddings on Saturday during a surveillance operation. Both were charged with larceny and criminal mischief crimes, as well as interfering with police. Persons also was accused of giving a false statement to police.Both were detained on $200,000 bail. It was not immediately clear if they have lawyers who could respond to the allegations.Police said they responded to the reported damage of the Optimum cables on March 24 in Norwalk and quickly identified suspects and their vehicle. Authorities did not release details of how they made the identifications.Officers arrested Persons while staking out a business in Bridgeport, and Geddings was found a short time later in a wooded ...

Gov. JB Pritzker to visit Apollo Theater after deadly tornado hits Belvidere

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:09:59 GMT

BELVIDERE Ill. — Governer JB Pritzker is set to visit the site of the Apollo Theater in Belvidere where the classified tornado hit that killed one man and injured many others.One person is dead and 28 people were injured after the Apollo Theater collapsed during a concert amid the violent storm and winds that tore through the Midwest Friday evening. Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle said there were 260 people inside during the Apollo Theater around 7:55 p.m. when the roof and Apollo marquee collapsed. First responders responded within minutes as the closest fire facility was two blocks away.Police say five people suffered severe injuries, 18 suffered moderate injuries and five others with minor injuries. The fire chief identified the fatality as a 50-year-old man who was attending the concert. "He had a rock band t-short on," Schadle said. Police stated that 20 were transported by local ambulances and others were transp...

FBI offers $20,000 reward for info on missing mom of 8, believed to have been killed

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:09:59 GMT

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — The FBI is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information that leads to the location of a missing mother of eight. Law enforcement believe the woman, Heather Kelley of Michigan, has been killed. Kelley, 35, has been missing since December. Her car was found burning the next day. Once the fire was out, investigators found her blood and human hair in it.When Kelley left home, she told her kids she was going to see her boyfriend, who was serving time at a halfway house. Court records show the boyfriend’s electronic tether went dead the night Kelley was last seen. He later ran away from the halfway house.Nexstar is not naming the boyfriend because he has not been charged in relation to Kelley's death.The 37-year-old man has now been indicted on a federal charge of escaping a halfway house.He was scheduled to be released from federal custody on April 26, but the new escape charge means law enforcement can continue holding him, giving police in...

'This is all for you': Miss NC USA wins crown days after boyfriend diagnosed with brain tumor

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:09:59 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WJZY) – Jordyn McKey was stunned when she was crowned Miss North Carolina USA after an emotional week supporting her boyfriend through a health crisis. "I showed up very raw, I showed up very emotional," McKey said. "Earlier that week, my boyfriend had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, which was a huge shock to all of us." Her boyfriend's tumor was the size of a baseball. Days before the pageant, he had brain surgery."I obviously, at that point, knew that I wasn't going to be competing and that this wasn't going to be something I'm doing this week because how could I?" Gaston County Special Olympics cheerleaders embrace their ‘superpowers’ After surgery in Charlotte, "he opened his eyes, looked at me, and said, 'Why aren't you in High Point?'" McKey recalled. The pageant was being hosted in High Point, North Carolina. He urged her to chase her dream while he remained in the hospital.Video from her preliminary interview shows McKey speaking openly ...